No more brine wastewater for Warren as of April 1, EPA says

No more brine wastewater for Warren as of April 1, EPA says

WARREN

The city of Warren can no longer accept brine wastewater from fracking as of April 1.

The Ohio Environmental Protection Agency on Monday issued its final permit renewal to Warren and also an additional permit to Patriot Water Treatment LLC, the state’s lone brine-wastewater treatment plant.

Warren’s new permit, signed by OEPA Director Scott Nally over the weekend, will not allow it to accept brine, or fracking wastewater, from Patriot or any other source. The five-year permit also calls for total dissolved solids monitoring twice a week.

The permit comes in the middle of a tense legal battle involving OEPA, Patriot, Warren and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources. There are unfinished legal procedures, but Mike Settles, spokesman for OEPA, said the entity felt it was time to issue a new permit.

Warren’s previous permit expired at the end of January.

“The appeals of [Patriot’s] original permit are still pending,” he told The Vindicator Monday morning. “That could take some time.

“This is an opportunity to take action that provides a road map moving forward.”

Patriot’s permit to install will allow the company to accept and treat “new wastewater sources.”

“They were permitted to take oil and gas wastewater,” Settles said. Now they have a permit to accept other industrial wastewaters, too.”

The company can still accept fracking wastewater, from Utica and Marcellus shale exploration, but has to find a different method of disposal or reuse, such as recycling or injection-well disposal, Settles said.

Andrew Blocksom, president of Patriot, said he was not informed regarding the issuance of the new OEPA permit.

Patriot, which opened last May, has 25 employees at its Sferra Drive plant.

Read more in Tuesday’s Vindicator and at Vindy.com.